Dems tell GOP to ditch IRS scandal hunt, focus on fixes

Cummings is the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, and Levin is the top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee.

The two contended that while everyone agrees that the revelation that the IRS improperly scrutinized Tea Party groups applying for tax-exempt status is a problem that must be fixed, Republicans have gone too far in their efforts to try and find a link tying the problems to the White House. In particular, they said, the IRS needs to adopt better guidance on how to handle applications of groups seeking tax-exempt status.

"Members of Congress must abandon their attempts to score political points and, instead, re-focus their efforts to confirming a new commissioner of the IRS, restoring the public’s trust in the agency and fixing the vague standards that led to these problems in the first place," they wrote.

The Democrats' editorial came in response to a piece penned by their Republican counterparts earlier this month. Also in The Washington Post, Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) claimed there were inconsistencies in the administration's story, and that the White House and its allies were "engaged in a flailing effort to put the scandal behind them."